Lincoln Welders

Lincoln had a few problems with some models during the late 60's and 70's. Some of the blue welders, both AC and DC had insulation breakdown problems when they were used continuously. With the older welders, the duty cycle could largely be ignored as they were over designed and very reliable, however, some of the later machines overheated and burnt out. Any AC machines that had fans seemed to be very reliable. Kav.

A few years back I watched a TV show concerning the Lincoln Electric welder company.
All employees had shares in the company, jobs were practically handed down through the family, no unions and if a bloke wasn't pulling his weight, he was quickly given the message by his fellow workers.
Production was through the roof, far better than other makers but this was well before China entered the scene.
As for duty cycle, had a Hobart 2-cylinder petrol welder when welding the boat.
Mate and I ran an electrode lead each and as soon as one of us ended a rod, my mate struck his.
Welder shat itself in under an hour, smoke pouring out of the windings, only running 10gge rods too.